


things left in high school.

by jeonginks



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 19:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19116520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeonginks/pseuds/jeonginks
Summary: You didn’t do a lot of things during your high school year, and now Chan wants to recreate them for you.





	things left in high school.

There were a lot of things you never did back in high school.

High school wasn’t necessarily a nightmare to you like most people claim it to be theirs, you always thought your university friends were simply exaggerating when they complain on and on about the seemingly trivial problems they had back in their old school days.

But it wasn’t exactly a full-blown party for you like some people claim it to be theirs either, you also thought your friends were exaggerating when they boast about all the senseless things they’ve done when they were young.

Both groups were people you couldn’t relate to. Perhaps occasionally when it came to talking about high schools stress, but the rest was a blur to you. You stood right in the middle of the spectrum of the heaven and hell cycle of high school, you were in limbo—the boring, endless cycle of you ignoring the colorful activity posters that plastered across school halls and choosing to head back home for a warm blanket cuddle instead.

You really thought staying home was better, that it was a better decision to not doll yourself up for a special high school occasion because it is just high school.

Chan thought otherwise.

Chan stood on a wobbly spot in the spectrum. He didn’t participate in every activity there was but he engaged in an enough amount to have a handful of funny stories to spill in conversations. While he didn’t think it was absolutely incredulous when you told him you had never participated in any kinds of gatherings hosted by the student council, he did find it a little unsettling that you missed out on the fun despite it being your choice.

He just thought choices could become regrets and sometimes even when you don’t think you feel remorseful, you do to a certain degree.

So this was what Chan did, this was what his unnecessarily kind-hearted mind decided to do for you—he’s going to bring you back to high school in his own little way.

* * *

**i. Junior movie night**

Junior movie night was unnecessary to you. You had a valid reason for not heading to the lecture hall that night, you had two to be exact.

Firstly, you’ve already watched the movie. You’ve watched most movies your teachers show you in class during ungodly times because you have a tradition of picking any random movies on Saturday nights. Chan became a late participant in this activity, taking himself weeks and weeks to get used to not arguing about what to watch because you were very set on choosing and playing immediately. No dilly-dallying was allowed in your room.

Second, you had a test the next day. You weighed the options carefully: getting an A on your test so you could pull up your grade and your gap or spend three hours watching a movie screening you’ve already seen with all the friends you’ve never had? The answer was far too easy to determine, it was getting a good grade.

You stared at the blinking projector in the IT room of one of your university’s buildings. Chan was adjusting the rolling table to keep the visual display solid and center on the white wall with one hand while his other hand held the mouse that controlled the computer at the teacher’s desk,

He had told you to come around the IT room after your night classes because he had something very urgent to show you, and you supposed he did because on the floor was the chaos that was opened bags of chips and cookies, coke poured into red plastic cups, and a bundle of ill-patterned blankets. But other than that, everything seemed perfectly fine.

“I’m here, Chan, what do you want to show me?” You asked after you gave the door two knocks and headed inside with your brows knitted into a constant furrow.

Chan turned around at your voice and his natural smile broke into something brighter, the corner of his full lips tucking up to show his brilliant glow in the dark room. He waved you closer when you stopped before the little picnic set he created in the middle of the room.

“I have something urgent to show you!” He said excitedly.

“I can see that, what the hell did you do here? A failed picnic date?” You gestured towards the floor with a bad attempt at suppressing a snort.

Chan rolled his eyes lightly at your indirect refusal before he could even propose his idea. Finally settling down on a spot, he moved his hands away slowly and surely, with his palms facing the projector as if he was telling it to stay in its place.

His instinct to talk to dead objects makes you laugh all the time, it was dumb but so genuine at the same time that you couldn’t help but grow more fond of him after recognizing this habit of his.

“Remember you told me about you missing junior movie night? I am trying to recreate that now,” Chan started. He held his hands up when your brows seemed to furrow even more, in brief annoyance this time, and your lips opened to speak. “Hear me out, just hear me out, please?”

You closed your mouth and scrunched up your nose in response. Chan took your lack of movement as you waiting for him to explain whatever the hell he had planned for you two for the night. Touching the nape of his neck nervously, he sighed.

“I know you said you didn’t go because of a test, but I’ve already checked with you to see if you had any test tomorrow and you told me you didn’t!” Chan started.

Your chest heaved as recognition hit you quick. He did ask you before, it was during lunch in the school cafeteria. Chan plopped himself down in front of you after offering to get you a meal for the lecture notes you copied for him when he was sick, and he asked about your schedule as he slid over the tray of food to you.

It was so casual you didn’t even realize he had asked it, not to mention ever expecting him to jot down your test dates or project deadlines.

You stuck your tongue to your inner cheeks in defeat when your brain ran to predict what points he was going to make to persuade you to stay here and watch the movie with him.

No tests tomorrow so you were basically free tonight; Most people during your junior year had probably watched Princess Bride millions of times already too, so it wasn’t really a good enough for you to make when you say you didn’t go because you’ve already seen it; Junior movie night was more a bonding session with friends than a movie watching session. One of the reasons why you didn’t go was because you didn’t have any friends you particularly wanted to bond with.

“Come on, it will be fun,” Chan cooed, his hands clasped together in front of his chest in a pleading motion as his lips formed into a gentle pout. “I will let you make commentaries and we can have all the food. Come on, (Name), watch it with me! We can chant the Inigo Montoya line together!

God, he was so dumb but his eyes sparked so much genuity that it became endearing to be around him.

Chan was a friend you happened to want to bond with more.

"Fine,” you caved in, moving to the nearest table and putting down all your belongings. You could hear Chan’s delighted giggle as he shuffled off to sit down on the blankets, where you soon joined him on.

* * *

**ii. prom**

The face that Chan gave you when you told him you missed senior prom was so tragic it almost made you feel guilty for not going during your last year of high school.

Prom was never your scene. You were never the formal attire kind of person, nor were you ever the dim light and loud music kind of person. Not being able to see anyone clearly in a crowd of people gives you anxiety, quite frankly. Besides, there was always this hint of bitterness in not having a group of close friends to take candid pictures with and a partner to slow dance with at the end of the day.

Chan kind of got the part where you disliked the party atmosphere, so he didn’t plan anything extravagant for you when he moved on to his mock high school prom schedule (not that he has the ability too anyway). And he didn’t think you would expect anything straight out of a movie either, ever since the little movie date you two had that night.

It was small and simple, but the way Chan let you snuggle up to his chest during the middle of the movie was enough to keep your mind occupied for the next few days. The strangest thing was that it felt normal—you hadn’t even realized you two were cuddling so close until your mother asked you about where you’d been and you thought back to the moment when Chan wrapped his arms around your shoulder with the tiniest laugh.

You were still thinking about it when you waited by the school gate for him at night, just as he asked you to. Like he asked, you dressed in formal attire, he didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was trying to recreate the senior prom this time as he did bluntly told you to wear something you would have worn if you did go to prom during high school.

“Now, won’t you look at that.”

You pursed your lips together and laughed, air blowing out of your nose. Your head was lowered as you turned around to find Chan dressed in a tuxedo and his hair styled perfectly.

“Look at you!” Chan exclaimed, his arms stretched out as you approached you. His hands cupped at the base of your jaw when he was of reach and he flashed you a proud smile that magnified his full cheeks. He was cooing by then, his eyes squinted and his finger running a soft line across your hair to show the admiration in his heart, “Look at how pretty you are!”

You couldn’t help but grin, a blush creeping up your cheeks turning a shade of orange due to the old lamppost you two were standing by. For the past few weeks you thought your mind was tricking you into believing Chan was differently attractive to you, that he wasn’t just a good-looking friend to you anymore, but a charming friend with a heart of gold who makes you feel a sense of security wherever you go.

You didn’t know how he managed to pull something like that off since it was only ever you who could make yourself feel the most comfortable, but sometimes you felt as if you were more like yourself being with Chan than you did on your own.

It was crazy, unbelievable, the way Chan could make you feel at ease for absolutely no reason at all.

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” you said, looking up at his hair, “Your dandelion hair is gone.”

“Okay, it was not that bad,” he protested, “I swear! Run your hand through it next time and you’ll see! I have a lot of hair!”

“Is that an invitation for me to play with your hair?”

Chan almost said yes. He almost made it sound like he had been desiring the feeling of your fingers threading through his hair. He almost exposed himself to both you and himself because Chan hadn’t quite admitted that his own thumping heart was a sign of growing feelings. And if his first instinct was to quickly agree with you twirling his hair in your delicate finger, his plan to push back his feelings would be promptly destroyed.

“This is prom, (Name), not an interrogation,” Chan pushed your cheeks together to muffle up your protest. “But since I know you don’t have a thing for dancing and crowd places, we’ll do the aftermath of prom. When everyone leaves and there’s only the two of us, walking back home together.”

You frowned, “We’re walking?”

“Yes, and I promise time will fly past really quickly if we just chat,” Chan held out his hand and you took it without question, “Come on, I am sure we have a lot of things to tell each other.”

You both do, about things that none of you could quite admit at the moment, so you would settle with a stroll in the park with talks about the moon and space.

* * *

**iii. graduation night**

Rumors say that seniors all cry during graduation night even though it was supposed to be a very grand party. It lasts hours, from night to morning, and the atmosphere always decreases from buzzing excitement of finally finishing high school to nostalgic sadness of the long-awaited separation.

It was always until the last minute when people realized maybe they don’t really want it, that maybe they’ll miss it or regret it.

Chan planned the graduation night the way he did with the junior movie night and the senior prom—simple. It located in the front yard of his apartment estate building because it was not possible for him to rent a whole football field for just the two of you, nor could he find any fast food truck and ferris wheel in such short notice.

You two each grabbed a folding chair and sat in front of the buildings for the whole night, occasionally walking over to the nearest vending machine for some soft drinks or back to his home for some snacks.

But the chairs were discarded after some time and you two ended up sitting against the wall of the building, on top of one blanket and the other one over your bodies as you two curled up to each other after the morning cold hit your tired senses.

By now, it was safe to say (and perhaps unfortunate to say) you two were (just) best friends. You found yourself choosing to spend more and more time with Chan because you wanted the feeling of revelation to become a constant in your chest; Chan’s desire to have you comb his hair with your hand has yet to fade and he wasn’t sure if it ever would. He would prefer if it never does, of course.

“Was it this cold in the morning of grad night too?” You asked, a shiver running down your neck as you blew warm air at your palms.

Chan shook his head, “Not that I remember. My friend was bawling his eyes out. I was just trying to calm him down, I think I forgot about the cold.”

You sighed in annoyance, turning to look ahead at the sigh before you. Since the apartment buildings were all located behind or beside you two, it gave you the perfect opportunity to look at the sunrise by the far away mouton in the front. The sun was small but its light stays blinding and warm as it slowly made its way up the bed.

You exhaled then, feeling a sense of nostalgia over something you couldn’t bring forth in your mind as you watched the sunlight shine over the shadowed part of the Earth, illuminating the trees and the tall buildings. It was like the sun was a child and it was using Earth’s land as a coloring book.

“Was it this pretty that day too?” You asked.

Chan blinked at the sun, contemplating with a hum at his throat, “I… think so. We all watched the sunrise together. And even though we can’t count the sun, I feel like we all had a stopwatch in our head, counting down the seconds the sun hits the top and signals the true end of our high school life.”

Your laugh was airy, with a hint of remorse. You’ve spent so much of your time stressing over school, you forgot to take the opportunity when it gave you one to enjoy it. You turned out fine at the end anyway and it was only at the end do you realize you had been worrying over nothing you should be spending an exceeding amount of time on.

It must have been pretty—the laughter of every junior that sounded through the lecture hall as the old movie played, the glimmers of all the pretty dresses as couples twirled and swayed about on the dance floor, the beating hearts that connected with each other as the seniors waited together with the hope that they could stall their final goodbye.

It must have been very pretty, that kind of youth.

“I missed it,” you croaked out, “I missed everything.”

Chan turned his head to your side, his eyes softening at the tears that rolled down your cheek as your shaky eyes glared at the sun. He scooted closer to you and wrapped his arms tighter around your figure.

“No,” he shook his head with a gentle kiss to your temple, “Not when I’m here.”

Chan spoke with softness and determination in his voice and you trusted him.

You trusted that Chan would bring it all back to you, all the youth you wasted, all the things you left undone in high school.


End file.
